ANTRAIGUES (LOUIS-EMMANUEL-HENRI-ALEXANDRE DE LAUNAY, COMTE - Lot 179

Lot n° 179
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300 - 400 EUR
ANTRAIGUES (LOUIS-EMMANUEL-HENRI-ALEXANDRE DE LAUNAY, COMTE - Lot 179
ANTRAIGUES (LOUIS-EMMANUEL-HENRI-ALEXANDRE DE LAUNAY, COMTE D'). "WE DEFENDED THE SAME CAUSE..." Autograph letter signed to the viscountess of Mirabeau. Renens near Lausanne, September 27 [1790]. 3/4 p. in-12. "It was only yesterday... that I learned you were in Yverdon. News only reaches me late in my solitude, and I was distressed because I was unable to send you my last letter as soon as it appeared. But this tribute from the best friend of the brave Vicomte de Mirabeau. We have defended the same cause, and I hope we will meet again to defend it, always united by the same feelings and the same esteem. Please accept my respectful homage... " Adélaïde de Robien (1756-1814) had married Viscount Boniface de Mirabeau (1754-1792), the younger brother of the famous tribune who was elected deputy to the Estates General. The couple emigrated to Switzerland, but the viscountess remained alone in Yverdon while her husband left to join the army of the Prince de Condé. ONE OF THE GREAT ADVENTURERS OF HIS TIME, AGENT OF THE CONTREREVOLUTION IN EUROPE, LE COMTE D'ANTRAIGUES (1753-1812) began his career with the Gardes du corps, which he abandoned to travel and frequent literary circles. Elected to the Estates General, he became a suspect on all sides, and emigrated in 1790 with his lover, the singer Saint-Huberty (whom he then married). Now a counter-revolutionary activist, he was extremely active, serving Spain and then Russia, as well as the English, while at the same time serving the interests of the future Louis XVIII. Arrested by Bonaparte in Italy, he had his papers confiscated, escaped and resumed his activities in connection with various European powers: Russia in particular made him a State Councillor, diplomat in Saxony and then in England. When he arrived in London, he eventually lost his Russian accreditation, and delivered to the English the secret articles of the Treaty of Tilsitt (1807). For a time, he served as French affairs correspondent to Foreign Minister Canning, but was later murdered under murky circumstances, his killer being shot dead and his papers confiscated.
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